With the first day of the school year less than a month away, education officials are considering whether to take over the Noxubee County School District.

The 1,600-student school system is in violation of more than 80 percent of Mississippi’s accreditation standards for public schools, according to findings of an investigative audit released Tuesday.

Investigators said 24 students who failed to meet state graduation standards were allowed to graduate from Noxubee County High School. And monitors were unable to determine that the school year was in session for the amount of days required under state law.

Auditors also found problems with district's special education services and reporting of financial data.

Noxubee Superintendent Roger Liddell was not immediately available for comment.

An assistant to the school chief said Liddell was en route to Jackson ahead of Wednesday's hearing, where members of the Commission on School Accreditation will decide whether an "extreme emergency" exists in the district.

A vote that an emergency exists would be the first step toward a state takeover.

Members of the state Board of Education would have to agree with the commission's determination. It would then be up to Gov. Phil Bryant to sign an emergency declaration allowing the takeover.

There’s already a question about who will lead Noxubee schools for the 2019 academic year.

Six months ago, a panel of education leaders recommended the district be placed into a statewide district for those that had received two consecutive failing ratings on the state’s A-F accountability scale.

The state Board of Education decided to postpone its vote on whether to place Noxubee County into the Achievement School District because officials have yet to recommend a candidate to lead the statewide district envisioned as a model for improving struggling schools.

State monitors spent a week conducting an on-site investigative audit in the district, which paints a picture of a troubled work environment under Liddell's leadership.

Employees told MDE that Liddell was prone to yelling at staff in meetings and behind closed doors.

"Staff members feared retaliation from the superintendent if they were not assured a degree of confidentiality in their interviews with MDE auditors," monitors wrote.

Several of the findings raise questions about the district’s financial transparency, an issue Liddell has come under scrutiny for before.

In 2012, he entered a pre-trial diversion after being accused of embezzling from the Hollandale School District. His plea deal allowed him to avoid incarceration and no measures were put in place to make him ineligible to work in local government.

Auditors said the last time Noxubee had a financial audit was for the 2015 fiscal year. Liddell started working as superintendent in 2016.

The investigation also flagged the district for missing contracts for 60 individuals on the district’s payroll. Auditors also cited concerns from district staff who told investigators that Lidell and members of the district leadership team had asked school employees to falsify documents.

Superintendents are typically given 30 days to respond in writing to the findings of an audit. Correspondence from MDE shows the report was mailed to the district on July 13, meaning the district had less than seven business days to respond to the 200-page report ahead of Wednesday’s meeting. Paula Vanderford, the chief accountability officer for MDE, has explained in the past that the agency can accelerate the timeline of proceedings depending on the severity of audit findings.